Saturday, 30 April 2016

Side A:
01. The Honeydripper Part 1
02. The Honeydripper Part 2
03. Left A Good Deal In Mobile
04. Key Jam
05. How Come
06. Apple Of My Eye
07. Doddle-Do-Da-Deet
08. Yvette

Side B:
09. Drippers' Boogie Part 1
10. Drippers' Boogie Part 2
11. Lonesome Guitar
12. You Ain't Goin' To Heaven No How
13. Three O'Clock Jump Part 1
14. Three O'Clock Jump Part 2
15. Some Of These Days
16. Ruth

Re-up of the third in the series of five compilation LPs of vocal group tracks which were released on Jubilee in 1959 / 1960. It's an interesting mix of late 1940s / early 1950s tracks by the Orioles, the group which really established Jubilee as a label with their 1948 hit "It's Too Soon To Know", and The Cadillacs, Jubilee's big selling group of the mid 1950s.

There is quite a lot of popping and crackling on these well worn tracks!

I originally posted on the Orioles way back in September 2007, in the very earliest days of the blog. That post was subsequently rewritten and the LP, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" was re-uploaded with improved scans. The newer download links have in their turn become dead, but now they have been replaced with an all new live link.

Alto sax player Tab Smith was born in North Carolina in 1909. His professional career started with The Carolina Stompers in 1927-29, followed by spells with Ike Dixon, Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks, Fate Marable, the Lucky Millinder led Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and Frankie Newton.

At the beginning of the 1940s he joined Count Basie and began a spell of band hopping among orks led by Teddy Wilson, Lucky Millinder and Eddie Durham. There was a return to Basie and then a second spell with Lucky Millinder from 1942-44. He left Millinder to form his own small jump band, taking vocalist Trevor Bacon and other Millinder band members with him.

The band started recording for small New York labels in May 1944, which is where this LP starts. Many of the sides he recorded in the mid '40s for labels such as Manor, Regis, Hub and Harlem were later picked up for re-release by King.

Tab's band consciously chose the "play it pretty for the people" route pioneered by Louis Jordan's Tympany Five, recording a mix of jumps, blues, boogies and ballads. In 1951 Tab started recording for United Records in Chicago at a time when his music career was taking a back seat to his business interests. His first release, "Because Of You", was such a success that he continued to record for United until 1957.

In 1958-59 he recorded for Checker with many of the sides being released on the LP "Keeping Tab."

His last sessions as leader were on King in April and August 1960.

The following original release details of the tracks from "I Don't Want To Play In The Kitchen" should be read in conjunction with the session details on the back cover of the LP. Please note that the LP information is probably wrong about the chronological order of sessions (e) and (f). Session (e) was in November 1945, and session (f) was in September 1945. See below for further info.

Here's something the like of which you don't hear every day. A bebop essay into wordless vocalised exotica, courtesy of El Enmascarado who has ripped us another vintage jazz 78 rpm disc.

Pianist / composer / arranger Tadd Dameron said at a 1953 recording session: "When I write something it's with beauty in mind. It has to swing, sure, but it has to be beautiful." Dameron's search for beauty expressed through music had its starting point when, as a medical student, he saw a body with an almost severed arm dangling from it. That was enough medicine for Tadd. "There's enough ugliness in the world," he decided. "I'm interested in beauty."

He soon acquired the standard big band swing experience which formed the musical background of the bop pioneers, working in the bands of Blanche Calloway, Zach White, Vido Musso, Harlan Leonard and Jimmie Lunceford. Tadd's move into a modern bop style came with his work for the bands of Billy Eckstine ("Cool Breeze") and Dizzy Gillespie ("Our Delight"). In 1947 he had his own small combo featuring brilliant trumpeter Fats Navarro, which recorded for Blue Note and Savoy.

(above: Tadd Dameron and Fats Navarro)

In 1948 his group became the house band at The Royal Roost, a Broadway chicken restaurant which had been running unsuccessful jazz nights until promoter Monte Kay and deejay Symphony Sid stepped in with a policy of promoting the new sounds in jazz combined with regular live radio broadcasts which proved to be fabulously successful.

Which brings us to 1949 where we find Tadd still in residence at The Royal Roost but now with an expanded lineup (sometimes known as "The Big Ten"), which in the eternal quest for beauty through music, combines bop with Latin rhythms. "Casbah" features the wordless singing of Rae Pearl. "Sid's Delight" (named after Symphony Sid) has the tenor sax of Dexter Gordon, who is uncredited on the record label, as you can see from El Enmascarado's scans.

This session for Capitol records was the last to be shared by Tadd Dameron and his collaborator in chief, trumpeter Fats Navarro whose requests for higher pay led to a split.

Many thanks to our collaborator El Enmascarado for the sounds 'n' scans.

This LP was originally posted back in the very earliest days of the blog. That post was subsequently deleted. The re-up includes new front and back cover scans as well as added label scans.

Six feet five inches tall Dexter Gordon was the first tenor sax player to play in the be bop style. Like many of his fellow be bop pioneers he received his musical grounding in the big swing bands. His career started to take off in his native Los Angeles, where in 1940 at the age of 17 he was recruited into the newly formed Lionel Hampton Orchestra. He stayed with the band until 1943, returning to LA where he joined a group led by drummer Lee Young. In 1944 he had spells with Fletcher Henderson and Louis Armstrong. In the autumn of that year he joined the bop inclined band of Billy Eckstine whose reed section boasted players of the calibre of Gene Ammons, Budd Johnson, John Jackson, Sonny Stitt and Leo Parker.

Dexter left the Eckstine band in 1945 and headed for New York where he joined a sextet led by Charlie Parker which also featured Miles Davis on trumpet and a changeable rhythm section with either Stan Levey or Max Roach on drums, Curley Russell on bass and Bud Powell or Sir Charles Thompson on piano. The first recording session featured on this LP took place in October 1945 while Dexter was still with the Parker outfit. (tracks 1-4, side 1)

Above: Charlie Parker Combo at the Spotlite Club, 52nd Street, NYC, October 1945. Bird out front, Miles on trumpet, Dex in shades.

For his October Savoy session, Dexter was backed by a rhythm section consisting of Argonne Thornton (Sadik Hakim) (piano), Gene Ramey (bass) and Eddie Nicholson (drums). For the second Savoy session in January 1946, Dexter was backed by a big name bebop rhythm section of Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass) and Max Roach (drums), all of whom had played in the Charlie Parker Combo. Also along was trumpeter Leonard Hawkins. (tracks 5-8, side 1).

Dexter quit New York in summer 1946. His first stop was Honolulu where he spent two months in Cee Pee Johnson's band and then he headed back home to Los Angeles where he was soon immersed in the burgeoning West Coast be bop scene. His next recordings were for Ross Russell's Dial label in June 1947, including the famous sax battle with Wardell Gray titled "The Chase."

Above: Wardell and Dexter - "The Chase"

A few weeks later Ralph Bass recorded Wardell and Dexter in a jam session at the Elks Auditorium in the Central Avenue area of LA. Among the personnel were stalwarts such as Howard McGhee, Sonny Criss, Trummy Young, Barney Kessel and Red Callender. Four of the recorded sides eventually made it to a 2LP set on Savoy - "The Hunt." This set, which was donated to Be Bop Wino by Billy K in November 2007, is nothing short of sensational. Bebop in the raw with no running time restrictions and recorded live in front of a rowdy audience.

On December 4th 1947 Dexter recorded another sax battle in LA for Dial, this time with Teddy Edwards - "The Duel, Parts 1 and 2." One week later Dexter was back in New York to record for Savoy (tracks 1-3, side 2), this time with Leo Parker on baritone sax and a rhythm section consisting of pianist / arranger Tadd Dameron, bassist Nelson Boyd and Art Blakey on drums. "Settin' The Pace" is yet another sax battle, with Dex and Leo facing off against each other. Dexter certainly had a penchant for reed-based combat as the aforementioned matches with Wardell Gray and Teddy Edwards show. In fact this went back to his Billy Eckstine days when he and Gene Ammons recorded their regular show-stopper "Blowing The Blues Away."

The final session on this LP was recorded on the 22nd December 1947 (tracks 4-7, side 2). The backing band once again featured pianist / arranger Tadd Dameron, this time along with a couple of members of his quintet which had recorded a few months earlier for Blue Note: Fats Navarro on trumpet and Nelson Boyd on bass. The lineup was completed with Art Mardigan on drums.

In January 1949 Dexter played in Tadd Dameron's Big Ten at the Royal Roost and recorded a couple of sides with this band for Capitol. Which brings us neatly to our next post and another 78 rip by El Enmascarado. In the meantime you can groove to these "Master Takes" and shout "Go! Go! Go!" while flipping your wig to "The Hunt."

Thanks once more to Joan for the second in the series of Jubilee doowop compilation LPs released in 1959. These sides, which were originally issued in 1956 and 1957, were gathered from the Bobby Robinson group of labels. The Channels and Continentals sides were originally released on Whirlin' Disc, a label co-owned by Bobby Robinson and Jubilee owner Jerry Blaine. They were subsequently re-released as singles on the Port label between 1959 and 1961. The Bop-Chords and Love-Notes sides were originally released in 1956-57 on Holiday, a label owned by Bobby Robinson's brother Danny.

There are occasional clicks and pops and even a skip on these vintage vinyl sides.

More juicy details, this time about the Love-Notes getting rushed on to an Apollo show as "United" / "Tonight" started to climb the charts. Also on the bill of that show were Chuck Willis, Mickey & Sylvia, Big Maybelle and Solomon Burke among others!

This LP was originally posted on Be Bop Wino on 21st June 2008. The original post is here:

We've had a few re-up requests for this one - Joan's contribution of the 1959 Jubilee LP "The Paragons Meet The Jesters." The sides contained herein were originally released on Winley and its subsidiary Cyclone between February 1957 and June 1958. Winley was owned by Paul Winley and was distributed through Jubilee owner Jerry Blaine's Cosnat company, hence the use of these sides on a Jubilee LP.

This was the first of a series of five Jubilee compilations of doo wop / vocal group tracks. The other titles in the series were: "Cadillacs Meet the Orioles", "Whoppers!", "Boppin'", and "Rumble." All the album covers featured cheesy photographs of models posing as biker / juvenile delinquent types complete with leather jackets and even on occasion baseball bats. Hilariously and unintentionally (?) camp.

I think Joan "reconstructed" these LPs from original 45 rpm singles which were pretty scratched. In fact there's a skip on the first track, but, hey, that's all part of the Be Bop Wino lo-fi aural experience.

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Dance On

Dedicated to REAL R&B, Rock'n'Roll, Blues and Jazz

This is a site dedicated to rockin' 1940s and 1950s music, ripped from vinyl. Some cuts are a bit on the rough side. If you're looking for audio perfection you're on the wrong site baby!If you like what you hear on this site please buy this kind of music. There are many reasonably priced reissues available from web dealers or perhaps from your local record shop, if it still exists. These reissues will be in far better sound quality than the vinyl rips on this site and they will usually have more up to date liner notes and info, so go out and splash a little cash now and again. Help keep those reissue labels going in these difficult times.

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